Website describes Polk Republican Neil Combee as a 'Never Trumper'

Wednesday

Neil Combee Facebook post: "My takeaway from all this if you don't have something nice to say about the Donald, you had better bite your tongue."

LAKELAND — Ask Neil Combee about Donald Trump and he'll tell you he's one of the president's biggest supporters.

"I spoke for him when he came to Lakeland Linder," Combee told The Ledger Wednesday.

But a new website, nevertrumpneil.com, details Combee's opposition to Trump during the presidential primary in 2016. Combee is running for the Congressional District 15 seat, which opened when Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, announced he was retiring. A primary election against four other Republicans is scheduled for Aug. 28.

The website shows a picture of Combee, describing him as a "politician we can never trust."

It details Combee's previous Facebook comments criticizing Trump as in debt for more than $450 million, shallow and untruthful.

"The Donald never fails to say how much someone loves him and how nice they are when asked about certain people, but if the same people say something he considers less than praise, he calls them losers or sluts," Combee wrote in 2016. "My takeaway from all this if you don't have something nice to say about the Donald, you had better bite your tongue."

The website domain name was registered on May 10, according to the the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

The bottom of the page says it was paid for by a group called "Civic," of McLean, Virginia. The address listed is a mailbox at a strip mall shipping store.

At the bottom of the site, a statement reads that it was not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. The Federal Election Commission had no record of a political action committee named Civic, though it shares an address with 10 other conservative PACs throughout the country, four of which have recorded monetary contributions this election cycle. None appears to have a direct connection to the District 15 race.

Combee said he thinks it was cooked up by one of his Republican opponents.

"They know I'm the only candidate trusted by President Trump to serve under him," Combee said, pointing to his appointment as state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. "The president recognized what I did for him."

Combee said he campaigned hard for Trump once Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the primary.

"My support was on May 3," Combee said, describing a phone call he made that day to Joe Gruters, Trump's Florida campaign chair.

Other candidates haven't always been supportive of Trump.

State Rep. Ross Spano, R-Dover, told the Tampa Bay Times in October 2016 that he had no plans to endorse Trump over Hillary Clinton.

Spano's comments to the newspaper came after revelations of Trump's comments in 2005 about groping and trying to have sex with women.

"The comments made by Donald Trump 11 years ago are extremely offensive to me and cannot be justified or defended on any grounds," Spano wrote in a text message to the newspaper. "I'm also offended, however, by much of what Hillary Clinton has done and said over the years. ... I have not and will not endorse either candidate for President."

Spano, who said he voted for Trump, said in a text message to The Ledger that he didn't recall the article.

"I was in a tough election of my own in 2016, and I wasn't in a position to worry about anything but my own race," Spano said.

Today, both Combee's and Spano's websites tout Trump.

"It is hard to express the level of importance of the achievements of President Trump so far in his first term," Spano's website states. "I am proud to support him and reject those that seek to destroy him and our country."

On Combee's election website, he describes himself as the "only candidate trusted by President Trump to Make America Great Again by serving in his administration."

John Chambliss can be reached at john.chambliss@theledger.com or 863-802-7588.

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